<p>That's true, MLEVINE, but the vast majority of ED schools will give you an estimated FA package within a week or so of acceptance (if not at the same time). When you get that package, you need to negotiate with your ED school, if necessary, and if the FA package is insufficient, you need to withdraw from the ED school before you get responses from your RD schools. You cannot hold onto your ED acceptance and wait until April to see what else comes up.</p>
<p>I would think that colleges would have a deadline for an accepted ED student to accept/question/negotiate the FA package just so that the haggling doesn't continue through the RD round. Perhaps someone else who has been through the ED process and needed a good FA package can elaborate.</p>
<p>cptofthehouse- Could you elaborate on "Those colleges that subscribe to the ED list"?</p>
<p>The ethics involved in this are fairly straightforward. </p>
<p>If you are admitted binding early, and the financial aid package you received is sufficient to comfortably afford the institution in question, you MUST withdraw your other applications. If the finances don't work with the aid package you received, then you should contact the school immediately and see what they missed. If the school doesn't/can't alter their package sufficiently, then you MUST withdraw from the institution that admitted you. It's truly disappointing for everyone involved during the extremely rare occasions an ED admit needs to back out for financial reasons; the FA package is not an opportunity to go monkeying with the ED timeline. </p>
<p>Beyond that, it's challenging to talk about the OP's question without having the thread deteriorate into a discourse on how best to be dishonest.</p>
<p>What if you get accepted ED, withdraw your applications to other schools, and then they revoke your acceptance after reviewing your midyear report? Do you not get into college in that case?</p>
<p>It is highly likely that once your guidance department learns of your ED acceptance that they will not send out midyear reports, so your regular decision apps will be incomplete and you will not get accepted anyway. Better to take the correct road and withdraw them. It is a touchy subject but as a minor you can not enter into a contract via the early decision process that would likely be held as binding. That being said you could still find yourself on the outside looking in if you don't keep your word.</p>
<p>A lot of high school seniors have reached the age of majority (18) by the time they submit an ED application, and anyway I thought parents usually sign off on those too.</p>
<p>In terms of withdrawing applications - it partially depends on the school's ED policy. When I applied ED, I could have as many applications out before I was accepted (as long as my ED didn't conflict with any of their ED/EA/SCEA/etc.). I could have as many acceptances even. However, once I was accepted I could not submit anymore applications. </p>
<p>I ended up applying ED to one school, and EA to two other schools. I heard from both my EA schools after my ED school in less than a week. So knowing that, it would have been pointless for me to withdraw the application because they had probably made their decisions then anyways. I just declined the offers of admission at my non-ED schools.</p>
<p>You have to withdraw them or you are in breach of contract and they can withdraw their ED acceptance offer to you. Further, its immoral to "wait and see" what other schools are going to do. You would be taking someone else's position and that is unethical. I know people who played this "game" last year...one who is at an Ivy School today...and its despicable. This person did NOT get caught to my knowledge and it has forever changed my perception of this person, who I know was doing this to "wait and see" i.e. fill their ego with acceptance letters, and also to see if they could knock someone else off their chair. Despicable. </p>
<p>You must withdraw immediately and do the right thing. </p>
<p>I have a belief that ALL students should notify other colleges when they have applied ED to another institution BEFORE any decisions are made so they know the score. Fair is fair.</p>
<p>If you dont want to show your cards, then I say don't apply ED. </p>
<p>The best move, if you ask me, is to apply ED, and wait on the decision before Christmas. Have your RD applications ready to roll, and dont ask your teachers to do any more recommendations until you know your ED results. If you get in ED, then your search is done. Congratulations. If you get deferred or rejected, then I am sorry. But you have your RD applications ready to stick in the mail immediately. That saves you the trouble of having to ask them to withdraw your name. </p>
<p>I can tell you this much. When my daughter made her final decision last May 1, she wrote gracious letters declining offers to her other schools who had accepted her. Two wrote back and thanked her for taking the time to write a nice letter and told her, "you are welcome back here anytime, if you change your mind and we will reinstate your scholarship offer and financial aid." It pays to take the high road.</p>
<p>Good luck.</p>
<p>I'm not a lawyer, but my understanding is that the ED agreement is NOT a legal contract; however, you have an obvious moral obligation reiterated repeatedly in this thread. The ONLY reason a school will typically allow a student to renege on an ED agreement is when the student honestly can show that the financial aid package offered is not sufficient for the family.</p>
<p>since i'm assuming you hear back ED on Dec 15....
if you get in and you only applied RD to other schools they yes, withdraw immediately. BUT if you applied early action or rolling to other schools and you know for a fact you will find out within a very short time period (like only a couple days), i don't think it can hurt "forgetting" to withdraw immediately ;)... but again you could probably only get away with this if it is done very very soon after you hear from your school</p>
<p>so what is the simplest way to go about withdrawing apps once accepted ED?</p>
<p>When you get the financial aid offer or estimate from an ED school, there is usually a given period of time that you have to discuss it. You also have a given period of time to send your deposit and confirm that you are coming. If you do not respond to those deadlines, the college is going to get suspicious, try to get a hold of you, and if they cannot, will contact your GC to ask what is happening here.<br>
You can send e-mails to the admissions office to withdraw your apps, and follow that up with a phone call. The reason for the phone call is to make sure they got the message since e-mails at this time of the year may get overlooked. A nice letter followed up with a phone call is a nice way to do it. I would be gracious as can be. The reason for this is because that is what polite, gracious, mature adults do. It is the right thing to do. For those who are not interested in that reason, you should do it because you never know when you will be recontacting that school whether for a program they sponsor, to transfer, grad school, a job. And it is very funny how folks can remember the dangest things. Most schools do want to know if you have applied to them before, and they do tend to check ssn lists for that info. Great computer records these days. You do not want to have "JERK" written on your files for the way you treated that school as a highschool student.</p>
<p>You can email them, call them....and many write a simple letter saying, "I have been accepted binding early decision at X University and therefore, regretably I must withdraw my application to Y University."</p>
<p>That is it.</p>
<p>When you apply ED, you KNOW the costs of the schools and you are agreeing to attend the school with the finaid offer that THEY think will meet your need. It is important to remember that the school determines your need and how they will meet it, and with how much money. You know this when you apply ED. You cannot wait and compare finaid offers and then decide that the ED offer was not enough. You gave up the idea of comparing finaid offers when you made the decision to apply ED. In fact, you gave up considering other acceptance options if the ED school accepts you. That is what ED is all about.</p>
<p>How does it work if ED acceptances come out, and the applicant has also applied EA? Since decisions come out in a week or so (both for most EA and ED) it's a given that the person must withdraw from the EA school if accepted to the ED school. =) Obviously ED is binding.
However, what if the ED decision comes early (as I know some schools send out in the next week)? Is it worth it to withdraw from the EA school if those decision will come a few days later? Or should they wait for the letter, and then send the withdrawal, because the letters will most likely cross in the mail?</p>
<p>When withdrawing other admissions after an ED admission, it's a good idea to let them know by a letter sent via the postal service, not e-mail, and to also give a copy to your GC. That way, if the college for some reason doesn't obtain your withdrawal, you still can prove that you send it.</p>
<p>That's a great idea, NorthStarMom! I hadn't thought about giving a letter to the GC! =)</p>
<p>I have a question: What if you haven't actually COMPLETED any other applications... do you still have to withdraw them? I mean, the admissions dept is just going to toss out your incomplete apps, right?</p>
<p>For example, you've sent in your transcript, recommendations, supplement, but not your CommonApp or fee... = imcomplete. Do you withdraw just to be polite and also to let them know that you didn't complete it because you were accepted ED somewhere else? That's still a folder in a file cabinet that you're taking up (I assume).</p>
<p>It's simply polite to tell the admissions office that you won't be completing the applications, so that they don't keep reviewing your file and sending you e-mails notifying you that your application is incomplete.</p>
<p>Being courteous in the working world never hurts; it's a good habit to get into now.</p>
<p>As far as your EA applications are concerned, no, you don't have to withdraw them if you don't have sufficient time to do so; none of this process is instantaneous.</p>
<p>And I know of at least one situation in which a kid was accepted ED, withdrew her other applications, and a school accepted her anyway!</p>